The 30 mm caliber is a range of

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...

ammunition. It includes the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

standardized Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organiza ...

Swiss 30×173mm (STANAG 4624), the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

30×155mmB, 30×165mm and 30×210mmB, the

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

30×210mm, the Yugoslav 30×192mm, the British 30×113mmB, and the French 30×150mmB and 30×170mm cartridges.

Usage

Ammunition in 30 mm is typically not used against personnel but rather as an anti-

materiel Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context. Military In a military context, ...

armor-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate armour protection, most often including naval armour, body armour, and vehicle armour. The first, major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the ...

round. Rounds of this size can be effective against lightly

armored vehicles Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighti ...

as well as fortified

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

s. It is also a popular caliber for shipboard

close-in weapons system A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...

s (CIWS), such as the Russian

AK-630 The AK-630 is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian fully automatic naval, rotary cannon, close-in weapon system. The "630" designation refers to the weapon's six gun barrels and their 30 mm caliber. The system is mounted in an enclosed automatic ...

and Dutch

Goalkeeper CIWS The Goalkeeper CIWS is a Dutch close-in weapon system (CIWS) introduced in 1979. It is an autonomous and completely automatic weapon system for short-range defence of ships against highly maneuverable missiles, aircraft and fast-maneuvering surf ...

. The

Armed Forces of the Russian Federation The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...

use their 30 mm weapons in a variety of vehicles, including the

Su-25 The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' ( ('' rook''); NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Sukhoi. It was designed to provide close air support for Soviet Ground Forces. The ...

attack aircraft,

Mi-24 The Mil Mi-24 (; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity transport helicopter, troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and was introduced ...

helicopter,

Mi-28 The Mil Mi-28 (NATO reporting name "Havoc") is a Soviet all-weather, day-night, military tandem, two-seat anti-armor attack helicopter. It is an attack helicopter with no intended secondary transport capability, and is better optimized than th ...

attack helicopter,

Ka-50 The Kamov Ka-50 "Black Shark" (, English: kitefin shark), NATO reporting name Hokum A, is a Soviet/Russian single-seat attack helicopter with the distinctive coaxial rotor system of the Kamov design bureau. It was designed in the 1980s an ...

attack helicopter, and the

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle f theinfantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development his ...

BMP-3 The BMP-3 is a Soviet and Russian infantry fighting vehicle, successor to the BMP-1 and BMP-2. The abbreviation BMP stands for ''Boevaya Mashina Pekhoty'' (, literally "infantry combat vehicle"). Production history The design of the BMP-3 ('' ...

, and BTR-90 infantry fighting vehicles. The most modern anti-aircraft gun systems in use by Russia are chambered in 30 mm. The

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

uses 30 mm weapons in their

A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twinjet, twin-turbofan, straight wing, straight-wing, Subsonic aircraft, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Republic ...

ground-attack aircraft,

AC-130 The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, attack aircraft, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sensors, nav ...

gunship (AC-130J Ghostrider variant), and

AH-64 Apache The Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing AH-64 Apache ( ) is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors help acquire targets and provide night vis ...

attack helicopter. It was going to be used in the

Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) (formerly known as the Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAAV)) was an amphibious assault vehicle developed by General Dynamics during the 1990s and 2000s for use by the US Marine Corps. It would ha ...

, until the project was canceled. The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

uses 30 mm weapons on the ''San Antonio''-class amphibious transport dock and on and s as part of the surface warfare (SuW) package. In 2012, the Navy decided to replace the Mk 110 57 mm cannons on s with the Mk 46 GWS (Gun Weapon System), a navalized mounting of the Mk44 Bushmaster chain gun. In 2022, the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

announced plans to install 30 mm Mk44 chain guns on newly-built Polar Security Cutters (PSCs), though existing cutters would retain their 25mm Mark 38 mounts.

Types of ammunition

30 mm calibre weapons are used in a variety of roles. As a result, ammunition in 30 mm comes in several varieties:

(AP),

high-explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

(HE),

airburst An air burst or airburst is the detonation of an explosive device such as an anti-personnel artillery shell or a nuclear weapon in the air instead of on contact with the ground or target. The principal military advantage of an air burst over ...

, and target practice (TP) rounds. Both AP and HE cartridges commonly possess incendiary or tracer elements, which may be noted in its designation; API and HE-T are Armor-Piercing Incendiary and High-Explosive Tracer respectively.

Weapons

File:30mm-rounds.jpg, Swiss 30×173mm File:Львівські курсанти опановують броньовану техніку 06.jpg, Soviet 30×165mm File:30mm DU slug.jpg, The DU penetrator of a 30×173 mm round used in the GAU-8 File:DEFA_791_cannon_for_the_Dassault_Rafale_fighter.jpg, French 30×150mmB File:30 mm.jpg, 30×113mmB rounds being loaded into an

AH-64D Apache Longbow The Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing AH-64 Apache ( ) is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors help acquire targets and provide night vis ...

Current weapons

Historical weapons

References

External links

FAS: 30 mm AmmunitionATK Products: M230ATK Products: M230LF
{{Firearm cartridge calibers Large-caliber cartridges